


A Sci-Fi Compendium Companion Guide to "Springboard Helix"

by paleogymnast



Series: Helix 'verse [2]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Backstory, Commentary, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-27
Updated: 2011-07-27
Packaged: 2017-10-21 19:47:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/229070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paleogymnast/pseuds/paleogymnast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A companion guide / commentary to "Springboard Helix," a story written for the 2011 <a href="http://spn-j2-bigbang.livejournal.com">spn_j2_bigbang"</a>. This guide includes a complete(?) listing of science fiction references, other literary and pop-culture references, and author reflections on the story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Sci-Fi Compendium Companion Guide to "Springboard Helix"

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my readers and to my betas, [engel82](http://engel82.livejournal.com) and Carlos for your encouragement and ideas! If you read "Springboard Helix," I hope you'll enjoy this peek behind the curtian.
> 
> Quotes from the story appear as regular text. The commentary and explanations appear in blockquote format.
> 
> Warning: Contains some (mild) spoilers for various science fiction and fantasy novels, movies, and television programs. I've tried to explain the basis of some of my ideas without giving any key surprises or plot twists away, but your mileage may vary.

**Chapter 1:**   
_Standing still, looking out on the twinkling points of light, only the thinnest of transparent panels separated him from the near vacuum beyond._   


> While not a direct reference, this daydream was inspired by (and is intended to evoke) the final scene of “Far Beyond the Stars,” episode 6.13 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Having just had a prolonged vision of himself as a pulp science fiction writer in 1950s America, Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) looks out of the one of the windows on the upper level of DS9’s promenade staring at the stars and sees Benny Russell, his 1950s alternate persona, staring back as he ponders whether he is “the dreamer or the dream.”

“Jensen. Ground control to major Jen, _hello_!”  


> Not a sci-fi reference per se, but a nod to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” 

“I hate to interrupt your Walter Mitty moment, but we need you up front,”  


> Again, not sci-fi exactly, but a reference to James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” a short story about a hen-pecked husband who escapes the drudgery of real life through the vivid fantasy life of his imagination in which he is a fighter pilot, trauma surgeon, etc. 

That wasn’t the Misha who teased him for going “darkside”…  


> A nod to Star Wars and every other sci-fi, fantasy, or space opera out there with a dark side and light side, even, yes, “Supernatural” itself. 

“…360 and strong arm Misha into playing _Halo Reach_ ,” he stage whispered, one hand shielding his mouth.  


> The sci-fi first person shooter (FPS) game by Bungie, one of the games in the Halo family. More info [here](http://www.bungie.net/projects/reach/default.aspx). 

“You do that, and I’ll hide all the Stargate DVDs so we only have the worst, most annoying clip shows to watch,” Misha snarked back.

“Hmm,” Jensen said, playing along. “We talking ‘Inauguration,’ bad or—”  
“No, we’re talking ‘Out of Mind’ bad,” Misha cut him off.

> There are a number of “clip shows” in the Stargate series SG-1 and Atlantis. A complete list of Stargate clip shows (with information about each) can be found [here](http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Clip_shows). Some of the clip shows like SG-1’s “Citizen Joe” and Atlantis’s “Letters from Pegasus” are actually pretty good and stand on their own as interesting episodes. In those, the clips of earlier episodes help to advance the episode’s plot which includes a lot of new footage, so the clips don’t feel like filler or superfluous fluff. Then there are episodes like “Inauguration,” “Politics,” and “Disclosure,” (all SG-1) which stand as very obvious filler used to give the stars a week off—they’re heavy on the exposition and are blatantly devoid of new footage involving primary cast members. They’re cheesy, and not really worth watching in their own right. Then there are the really, really bad ones, like SGA’s “Inquisition,” and SG-1’s “Out of Mind,” which in my humble opinion has the disgrace of being both the worst clip show ever and the worst season finale ever. Yes, you read that right, they did a clip show as a season finale. And worse than that, it was a literal clip show as the main characters too were forced to watch their “memories” on a computer screen. On an interesting upside, Supernatural’s own Samantha Ferris (i.e., General Ferris in this story) appears in “Out of Mind,” so there’s an extra level of humor intended by this comment. Misha was being really cruel when he made this threat. 

“I know it offends your pacifist nature, and the vehicles make you nauseous,” he interrupted.  


> A dig at the “warthog,” “banshee,” “ghost,” and other vehicles in the Halo franchise which don’t drive like normal cars or planes or anything else for that matter. Some people love them, but I for one, find they add a lot of unnecessary drunkenness to the game. The Halo vehicles are also the butt of many jokes in the fabulous machinimation web series “Red vs. Blue.” [Read more here…](http://roosterteeth.com/archive/?sid=rvb&v=more&s=1)

 

 **Chapter 2:**

It wasn’t fair, it— _No!_ , was all Jensen could think.  


> It doesn’t have to be a sci-fi reference, but any time a character screams “no” like that, I always think of a particular scene with Luke Skywalker in _The Empire Strikes Back_. That’s what I was going for here.

It felt like he was _expanding_ , then there was a rush of wind and everything went black—and the car stopped with a lurch and a loud _pop_ , kind of like the _bamf_ sound Nightcrawler made when he teleported.

> This is a three-for. Feeling like he’s “expanding” is a reference to a scene in _The Courtship of Princess Leia_ by Dave Wolverton, one of the early books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (not one of the _best_ , but one that has some really cool concepts, covers a lot of important ground, and has one of the coolest weapons toyed with in sci-fi (in my opinion). 

  


> The rush of wind is a nod to various aspects of Madeline L’Engel’s _A Wrinkle in Time_ series. The operation of personal wormholes in Springboard Helix was largely inspired by her tesseract or wrinkling of spacetime. A tesseract is also a fourth-dimensional cube. 

  


> Finally Nightcrawler is a character from X-Men who is able to teleport. He makes the trademark “bamf” sound when he teleports as is keenly illustrated in the movie _X2: X-Men United_ (or any number of comic books). 

Misha was already out of the car though, his cell phone out of his pocket and tucked between his ear and shoulder, his hands full with some kind of tablet PC and dongle-thingy—it looked like something you’d find in the _Enterprise_ ’s sickbay if you asked him.

> Tablets as we know them are all inspired by the [ PADD](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/PADD) from Star Trek. The “PC and dongle-thingy” Jensen’s talking about reminds him of a medical tricorder, the various models of which usually came with a detachable hand-scanner the Starfleet doctor would wave over a patient to help detect illness, injury, or take other readings. More on tricorders [here](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Tricorder). The _Enterprise_ is a reference to any one of the flagships of the Federation in Star Trek. 

He turned and looked backwards for the first time, and jumped, because beyond the—also cracked—rear windshield of Misha’s car, was another car, and a light pole, but both of _those_ were crumpled, for lack of a better term.  


> Although neither tesseracts nor Stargate-style wormholes (two of the three primary inspirations for the method of space travel depicted in this story) cause this kind of destruction or collateral damage, the third, jumping from the movie _Jumper_ , does. Time travel of the sort depicted in _The Terminator_ , in all its incarnations—but in particular “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”—was also an inspiration for the type of displacement damage caused here as was, to a lesser degree, time travel from _Back to the Future_.

He mentioned a few more names, something about a General Lane and a Colonel Peleggi and another Colonel Wallace, but none of it made any sense.  


> General Lane, is actually General Lehne, Fredric Lehne who plaed Azazel on “Supernatural,” who we meet later in the story. Colonel Peleggi is of course Mitch Peleggi. Although I included a few actors from outside the cast of Supernatural in this story (Christian Kane, Gina Bellman, and Emma Roberts, for example—yes, that’s who Lt. Roberts is), I tried to avoid casting anyone from Stargate since Stargate exists as we know it in this universe. Of course the problem comes that there are some crossovers between the two shows. Samantha Ferris is one; Mitch Peleggi is another, of course his Stargate presence is a lot more than guest spot in one episode. So Colonel Peleggi is actually also a nod to his Stargate Character Colonel Steven Caldwell. Col. Wallace is also a kind of round about Stargate nod. Although technically an OC (and one who is only mentioned in this story), he’s inspired by Garwin Sanford, aka Deacon from “Folsom Prison Blues.” Garwin Sanford is another repeat Stargate player, and one of his Stargate characters is named Simon Wallace, who was a doctor, not a Colonel. This isn’t _that_ Wallace (and for that matter Colonel Wallace’s first name isn’t Simon), but that’s where the name comes from. 

“W—WMD?” Jensen glanced down at his hand. “Are—are you joking? This—this isn’t a weapon of mass destruction.”  


> That one’s kind of self-explanatory and pun fully intended. Sorry. (Again, not exactly a sci-fi reference, but I figured it was worth mentioning, even if bloody obvious.) 

If he hid anything else in there, Jensen was going to make a crack about an interdimensional pocket, even though he really wasn’t in a joking mood because apparently Misha had the more props than Dr. Crusher tucked away in there.  


> That’s a two-for; the “interdimensional pocket” is a joke about _Highlander_ and especially “Highlander: The Series.” If you’re not familiar with Highlander, it’s about immortals who can only die if you cut off their heads. They’re all part of “the game” with some of them going around whacking each other’s heads off because “in the end, there can be only one.” So they all carry swords, which seem to magically appear out of nowhere, sometimes impossibly concealed under formfitting clothing. Hence the running joke immortals must keep their swords hidden in an interdimensional pocket. 

  


> The second reference is to Dr. Beverly Crusher of Star Trek: The Next Generation and its various movies. Because of Dr. Crusher’s penchant for using futuristic medical devices and the insistence of her actress, Gates McFadden, to use those devices in a logical manner, Gates McFadden was dubbed “the Props Queen” by the cast and crew. (Dr. Crusher was also one of the few people in The Next Generation to actually have pockets, but that’s another story.) 

…until the helicopter showed up—an honest-to-god black helicopter complete with commandos dressed in black uniforms, landed in the middle of the street.  


> There’s a lot of sci-fi and conspiracy theory literature out there littered with black helicopers and commandos. I always think of _Conspiracy Theory_ (cheesy, awful, I know, don’t shoot me), the movie with Mel Gibson (gag) and Julia Roberts (among others, including science fiction ringer and Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart). So that’s what I was thinking of when I wrote this. *ducks*

But then they loaded him into a series of elevators, and soon it was pretty clear they were underground… in some sort of military base _under_ the hospital.  


> Totally, shamelessly inspired by “Stargate.” The SGC (Stargate Command) is located deep underground _underneath_ NORAD at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. 

It sounded like ridiculous bullshit—or maybe a really mean joke—but then Jensen kept thinking of _Galaxy Quest_ and how Tim Allen’s character had _thought_ he was attending an elaborate cosplay gathering only to discover he was actually in outer space onboard an alien vessel. Jensen was pretty sure this was alien vessel land, not cosplay.  


> The reference is fairly self-explanatory. Cosplay is costume play where fans dress up as characters from their favorite fandom and sometimes act out scenes or play out their own storylines. You can find some basic info [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay). _Galaxy Quest_ is a 1999 sci-fi dramedy spoof that takes the ageing cast of a Star Trek-style cult tv show and throws them into a world full of aliens who have modeled their lives and technology off of the show thinking it represents “historical documents.” Hilarity ensues. 

Jensen asked about a nondisclosure agreement, massively freaked out that they were _telling him this_ without him signing anything, but Kane just looked at him funny and said, “This isn’t Stargate.”  


> In the various Stargate series, the solution to people finding out about the stargate, Stargate program, aliens, or alien technology is to have them sign a several-inch thick nondisclosure agreement that somehow, magically convinces people not to talk to the press (or do anything else to reveal the program), at least 99.999% of the time. Alien bounty hunters show up at a high school reunion? Nondisclosure agreement. The SGC wants to recruit civilian scientists to go to Atlantis? Nondisclosure Agreement.

They didn’t leave him alone for long, as “Captain Doctor Katherine Cassidy, but you can call me Katie or Dr. Cassidy”—and yes, that was actually how she introduced herself...  


> A reference to the various introductions of then Captain Doctor Samantha (“Sam”) Carter in “Children of the Gods” the pilot episode/movie of “Stargate: SG-1” as well as to the introduction of puppet Sam Carter in the SG-1 season 10 episode “200.” 

They produced special neurotransmitters which allowed for a sort of telepathic communication with certain technology and artifacts also believed to be alien in origin.  


> My idea for nanolumes and Markers was inspired by the “ATA” or Ancient Technology Activation gene from “Stargate: Atlantis,” but I tried to tweak it a bit, so it’s not a direct copy. For one thing, unlike Stargate, there’s no gene therapy in this ‘verse and unlike Stargate’s gene therapy (which is only effective 47–48% of the time) nanolumes are effective 100% of the time. We just can’t duplicate them or research them. 

 

 **Chapter 3:**

He was half-afraid he’d be electrocuted if he touched the walls.  


> Lots of sci-fi includes holding cells or prisons with charged force-fields, but given Jensen’s sci-fi fandoms, he’s probably thinking of something from Star Trek or Stargate. 

Misha was leaning, almost casual, against the doorframe.  


> Misha may be channeling John Sheppard from “Stargate: Atlantis” (played by Joe Flanigan and his propensity for _leaning_.

“To my right is Colonel Mitchel Peleggi, who is here as the official representative of General Gina Bellman. Gen. Bellman and the other two Generals who make up ORDA’s Governing Council could not be here as they are both attending business offworld.”  


> The five generals in the governing council is a nod to The Five from “Sanctuary” as is ORDA’s age (The Five have been running top-secret errands for various world governments for 100+ years.) 

“I prefer, ‘sir,’ Jensen, please keep that in mind.”  


> A reversal of “Star Trek: Voyager’s” Captain Janeway’s preference of “Captain” or in a pinch “Ma’am,” but not “sir.” 

**Chapter 4:**

“Yes? Cadet Jones,” Kane acknowledged.  


> A very vague nod to Martha Jones from “Doctor Who.” 

He might as well have been getting _Matrix_ -style brain downloads for all the information he’d crammed in his head. The scariest part was he actually seemed to be retaining it all.  


> A rather obvious nod to _The Matrix_. If by chance anyone’s not familiar in the Matrix, people can get skills and knowledge uploaded to their brains. Of course no one can be told what the Matrix is… 

Because sometimes he felt like death wouldn’t be an entirely bad alternative to this nightmarish dreamworld to which he’d awoken.  


> Another _Matrix_ nod. Jensen’s wishing he’d taken the blue pill, maybe. 

“I found out I was living in the Matrix, Captain Padalecki. My life and everyone I cared about, a lie. So excuse me if I’m not in the mood for conversation.”  


> And another… suffice it to say Jensen realized the world he lived in was a lie, he wasn’t who he thought he was, and now he can’t go back. Oh, and apparently he’s really, really special, even though he doesn’t really understand why. He might be feeling just a little like Neo right now. 

 

Your apartment is big brother central.  


> A reference to George Orwell’s _1984_ , not the reality TV show vaguely inspired by that book. 

**Chapter 5:**

Next was Staff Sergeant Barnes. Barnes had kept his NCO status when moving over from the USMC. He was Kane’s height, had dark skin, ridiculously developed muscles, and a regulation buzz cut, and sounded like a stereotypical drill sergeant when he spoke. He wasn’t quite as openly hostile to Jensen as Kane or Simmons were, but he seemed to think Jensen’s very presence was an affront to proper military protocol, and treated him accordingly.  


> Although an original character, Barnes is loosely based on Sergeant Bates from “Stargate: Atlantis.” Only he’s maybe slightly more of a dick. 

…barely restrained glee that reminded Jensen a lot of Aiden Ford from Stargate Atlantis...  


> Another SGA reference. If you’re not familiar with the character, Ford once jumped through an intergalactic wormhole backwards and whooped with joy… he was just that kind of enthusiastic. 

I just think it’s kinda funny, ‘cause this shit? I used to have lightsaber battles with my brother and sister when we were kids.  


> Lightsaber battles are a nod to Star Wars; the line is also a nod to Aldis Hodge’s character on “Leverage” who has a particular history with Star Wars cosplay, to put it lightly. 

He went back to loading his gear, shuddering a little as he checked his supply of grenades, flash bangs, and C4.  


> The C4 is a nod to Stargate… ‘Gate teams go through plastic explosives like they grow on trees. Jensen would find the C4 very unsettling and wrongly amusing. He’d feel the same way about the ruggedized laptop he’s carrying too, because it would remind him a _lot_ of SGA’s Dr. Rodney McKay. 

He had no idea if that’s what Mirakimi translated, but it made him wonder. The Phvanzi hadn’t settled that world for very long, so why would there be ancient symbols there?  


> These are just little-a “ancient” symbols, but the word choice is a nod to both the obvious Stargate and the less-obvious “Farscape,” which both had elusive, mind-fucking Ancients who knew a lot about wormholes. 

Silence followed. Jensen silently counted the seconds one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi... only a little voice in the back of his mind kept saying “Mibbibbippi” instead, trying to make him laugh.  


> A reference to “Farscape.” Dominar Rigel the XVI and Ka D’argo mishear John Crichton counting out “one-Mississippi” as “Mibbibbippi” and start counting that way. 

And he wanted to laugh because he was pretty sure his life was fast approaching John Crichton levels of mind fuckery, and Jensen desperately wanted a release.  


> Another “Farscape” reference. John Crichton is an astronaut and astrophysicist from Earth lost and stranded in a strange part of the galaxy on a ship full of escaped prisoners after a bad run-in with a wormhole, and his life goes downhill from there. To be fair, Jensen really isn’t even coming _close_ to John Crichton levels of mind-fuckery, at least not at this point, so he’s being a bit melodramatic. To understand why that is, well, you’ll just have to watch “Farscape.” 

He had ideas of what it meant, ideas that made him afraid to face a new day, ideas that pushed his buttons ‘til he was almost suicidal, ideas that suggested it didn’t matter how he felt or what he wanted, very bad things were headed this way.  


> A paraphrase of Qui-Gon Jinn’s (Liam Neeson) line in _Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace_ —“That is the sound of a thousand terrible things headed this way.” I quoted Phantom Menace and a scene involving Jar-Jar no less. I know; it’s embarrassing, but the line got stuck in my head and I ran with it. 

They kind of reminded Jensen of the Asgard, only apparently they were furry and definitely not clones.  


> In Stargate, the Asgard are one of the Four Great Races; originally from the Ida Galaxy, they broker protection treaties between various worlds, protecting many worlds from the power-hungry, slave-trading Gou’ald, as they travel around in their very awesome ships with their very, very cool intergalactic hyperdrives. They happen to be little grey men who are all clones whose consciousness is passed down from generation to generation, and yeah, they’re better known as Norse gods. Thor is nice; Loki, not so much. 

Licinians were adaptable with color-change skin and capable of camouflaging themselves—”think disillusionment charm from _Harry Potter_ ,” Misha explained—and were rumored to be able to survive in a wide array of environments.  


> In the _Harry Potter_ books, a disillusionment charm makes one invisible by making one blend in with one’s background—a form of instant, perfect camouflage. 

**Chapter 6:**

Unless Katie was somehow accidentally exposed to nanolumes, her only options were lab work—and the constant reminder of the power ORDA held over her—or field work—and the constant threat of getting left.  


> “Getting left” is an oblique reference to “Firefly” and a quote by Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) from the episode “Ariel.” Mal doesn’t leave anyone on his crew behind. 

“This is a chemical analysis compiled from the autopsy results of the four Licinian bodies that survived encounters intact enough to study.”  


> Although it’s not stated why the other Licinian bodies weren’t intact enough to study, my goal was to imply or suggest a self-destruct device similar to those used by the Wraith in “Stargate: Atlantis.” The Licinians are not only elusive and deadly, they make it damn near impossible (and extra deadly) to try to study them or figure out what they’re doing. 

  


> For a long time the Licinians were unnamed in my draft versions of this story. When it got too difficult to keep track of what all the placeholder underscores meant (a _lot_ of species and places went unnamed in this story for a long, long time), I finally sat down and brainstormed with my betas. I was thinking of potentially calling them Catilinians after the Catiline Conspiracy in ancient Rome. Instead, Carlos suggested picking a name from Marcus Licinius Crassus, Roman General and Consul, who along with Gaius Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) formed the First Triumvirate. Crassus was rather infamous for acquiring wealth and property by taking advantage of those around him. One of his preferred underhanded methods involved buying properties at greatly reduced prices from their owners while said properties were _on fire_ and then swooping in with his own firefighters to put out the blaze before much damage was done and keeping the profit (and property) for himself. Similarly, the Licinians—taken from Crassus’ nomen “Licinius”—essentially “steal” entire planets from other species by either obliterating the species, kicking them off the planet, or rendering the planet inhospitable. They then profit from the planets’ natural resources or establish their own colonies. 

Translatoneuroloquoramine beta  


> This is just me having too much fun with Latin and then mangling it and mixing it with Greek. _Translatus_ is the fourth principle part of the third conjugation verb “transfero, transferre, transtuli, translatus est” meaning “to bring across, carry, transport, or transfer.” _Loquor_ is the first principle part of the third conjugation verb “Loquor, loqui, locutus est” meaning “to speak” (or more specifically here “I speak.” For Star Trek: The Next Generation fans, it is also the origin of the name “Locutus of Borg.” _Neuro-_ is, of course, a prefix meaning “relating to nerves” that is actually from ancient Greek, “beta” is the second letter of the Greek alphabet (and is also used to represent the second or second phase of something), and “-amine,” in organic chemistry, is a suffix referring to any organic compound containing an amine functional group (i.e., a group derived from amonia). Yes, this is made up gibberish, or “phlebotinum” as Joss Whedon (and TV Tropes) prefers to call it. But it more or less is supposed to be the second type of neurotransmitter that speaks across or carries messages across. Voila. 

He recalled something about micro-wormhole drives on ships that opened a series of short wormholes that a spaceship could slip from one to the next, dropping in and out of regular space as it traveled. It had sounded to Jensen like some kind of hybrid of technologies from Stargate—the wormhole drive Atlantis had used to get to Earth and the zigzagging hyperspace jumps of the Wraith.  


> More or less what it says on the box. On “Stargate: Atlantis,” the Wraith are a species that travels through hyperspace by space ship, but because their ships are organic, they have to drop out of hyperspace and “pause” at regular intervals to let their ships deal with the effects of hyperspace travel. Atlantis, which is a city that is also a ship, has a different kind of hyperdrive and also an experimental wormhole drive, which actually allowed the city to open a wormhole to fly itself through without the use of a Stargate. 

…the Wraith, which had made him contemplate whether a species like them could exist somewhere out there in the black…  


> The Wraith are Goth space vampires to put it mildly. 

“I’ve thought about this. The Igth couldn’t have done it either. They can’t breathe our atmosphere, so we’re of little interest to them….”  


> Although I don’t describe the Igth in much detail in this book, I imagine them as a cross between the Gand from the Star Wars Expanded Universe and the Breen from Star Trek (vaguely insectoid with special environmental suits and a bit mysterious). 

 

Jensen nodded, thoughts of Loki—the Stargate character, not the mythological Norse god—drifting through his head. “Then again, all it takes is one bad apple, right? He shrugged.  


> Like I said, most Asgard are nice; Loki on the other hand was personally responsible for all the alien abduction stories. Not a nice Asgard. 

…“dialing in” the location, as the ORDA veterans called it.  


> A nod to “The Sentinel” (and all Sentinel fanfic and fusion fanfic everywhere) and “dialing down” one’s senses. 

**Chapter 7:**

… filled with sharp blue crystals of various hues and sizes.  


> Stargate is very fond of crystalline life forms (not to be confused with the Crystalline Entity from Star Trek: TNG. This is a nod to “Stargate: SG-1,” Season 1, episode 6, “Cold Lazarus” in which our intrepid heroes encounter some crystal life forms that don’t quite know what to make of SG-1 leading to some very unintended consequences. I’m thinking of those crystals, but in a _The Wizard of Oz_ -style poppy field. 

Jensen couldn’t not react, he couldn’t not _feel_ , and right now his world had been altered from underneath him one too many times.  


> Another “Firefly” reference, also to “Ariel,” but this time it’s Simon Tam’s (Sean Maher) line referring to his sister River’s (Summer Glau) inability to _not_ feel. 

“They’re silicon-based, but more like floating blobs than a Horta. We’ve known them for over 50 years, but still know next to nothing about how they work. Some of the training guys call them ‘slicks’?”  


> The Horta are a famous silicon-based life form from Star Trek that first appeared in The Original Series’ episode “The Devil in the Dark.” They’re kind of slug-like rocks. There were all sorts of horrible misunderstandings (and deaths) when Starfleet first encountered the Horta, because we carbon-based life-forms didn’t understand they were living and communication barriers abounded. 

“Because they’re our neighbors. We can’t just ignore them because we don’t understand them….”  


> This is a vague reference to General Landry’s line in “Bad Guys” (season 10, episode 16 of Stargate: SG-1) over his frustration/annoyance that Cicero’s planet has buried its gate rather than accept further contact with the Tau’ri. 

**Chapter 8:**

They were supposed to join up with a team of research scientists from there and then head out to MZ37…  


> This is a stealth nod to _Star Trek (2009)_ aka ST:XI aka the Reboot. Alternate timeline James T. Kirk was born in Medical Shuttle 37. 

  


> Planet names in this story were a little tough for me. I was trying to avoid sounding like a walking stereotype (where everything is full of Zs, Xs, and Qs, especially when naming bad guys), but also trying to avoid falling into Stargate parlance of six-character letter-number planet designations (typically beginning with an M or P). So I tried to come up with shorter and different names and turned to other sources for inspiration. 

He felt a sudden, agonizing jolt along back of his neck. There was a moment’s terror of being completely unable to breathe, and then blackness consumed him.  


> Not sci-fi, but I totally blame this on “Hawaii Five-0 (2010).” If you’re not familiar with the show, Steve McGarrett gets stungunned in the back of the neck with rather disastrous results on a couple of occasions. Also, Hawaii Five-0 is a LOT like Stargate: Atlantis set in Hawaii. 

 

 _Stun Gun._ Or possibly a Taser or one of the Falligarian Stun Wands that reminded him of a dozen or so fictional shock weapons from KOTOR and usually made him giggle to think about.  


> KOTOR is Knights of the Old Republic, an award-winning video game set in the Star Wars universe several thousand years before the events of the movies. There are a lot of stun and electrical weapons called stun pikes, shock pikes, etc. Fun stuff! 

It was entirely possible, he reasoned, ORDA had stuck them all with microchips. Of course knowing his luck that would work out as well as it did on “Stargate” with bad guys jamming, deactivating, or surgically removing the transmitters every chance they got.  


> Like it says, on Stargate the characters have subcutaneous transmitters implanted to help the SGC track them. Of course bad guys often figure this out (or otherwise have precautions in place that render the chips useless). There’s a lot of jamming fields, deactivations, and surgery in the back of a moving vehicle. Knowing Jensen’s luck, that would totally happen to him. 

He was cut off—separated—from Misha, and that _hurt_. In the short time since he’d opened his first wormhole, his whole universe had shifted. He expected to be able to have another way out—to reach out and be able to move. Now that he knew all the people and things out there in the universe who might want to hold him, capture him, trap him, dissect him, _use him_ , he depended on it. Needed it. The sudden loss had him reeling; he felt like the walls were closing in, crushing him.  


> Jensen’s feeling of disorientation and being cut off are based in part upon the feelings of Jedi in Star Wars when they’re cut off from the Force (which usually happens with exposure to the Force-negating effects of tree-dwelling lizards called ysalimiri). Ysalimiri and their effects come up in several Star Wars expanded universe books, including their original appearance in the _Heir to the Empire_ trilogy by Timothy Zahn. 

_The air burned his lungs, his skin so cold it was numb except for the places the restraints bit into it, and he felt like someone had parked a tank on his chest, or maybe his back, since he was lying face down. He couldn’t breathe, and he could feel little bursts of fiery tingles inside his body, especially in his limbs, as his body protested the lack of oxygen. The agony seemed to go on and on, each breath a belabored eternity._   


> In Madeline L’engle’s _A Wrinkle in Time_ the immortal Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Who take take Meg and her companions to a series of worlds, including—accidentally—a 2-dimmensional planet where Meg and company can’t breathe and feel as if the words said around them are being stamped out on a page. This was the inspiration for most of Jensen’s experiences traveling to incompatible planets. 

“Nah, man,” the deep-voiced guy said as he entered, and Jensen decided to dub him tattoo because the first thing he saw was the prominent facial tattoo over the guy’s right eye.  
Jensen shuddered. It made him think of Chakotay, and considering how much he hated “Star Trek: Voyager,” he wasn’t really liking what that said about his mental state.  


> Chakotay, played by Robert Beltran, was the first officer of the _U.S.S. Voyager_ in “Star Trek: Voyager” and had a very prominent and distinct tattoo over one eye. For a more recent cinematic take on this, see _The Hangover 2_.

“‘Cause it’s an it. Not a he. He’s one of ‘em fuckin’ Markers or whatever they call it. Not human. He’s got weird alien or mutant genes or some’n’ that let him do shit, like not freeze his ass off in this meat locker. They think they’re better’n us or somethin’, and it’s bullshit man, bullshit!”  


> Vaguely inspired by the X-men, especially the X-men movie ‘verse. Markers although clearly human enough to interbreed with other humans (i.e., not fully speciated), are different enough and feared enough for their special abilities that some people (including some Markers) start to think of themselves as a different species or race. 

Tattoo wasn’t done though. “But, I thought some of the bosses’ guys are—whadda ya call it? Markers, too? Like Padalecki? He seemed pretty human.”  


> I hope you’ve read this story already so I’m not giving too much away, but without being too specific, this was vaguely inspired—or re-inspired—by name-dropping in the Season 1 finale of “Hawaii Five-0 (2010).” If you’ve read this and seen that, you’ll know what I mean. Otherwise, no way am I spoiling both! 

“Padalecki was born human, like us. He just got dosed with some shit that gives him extra abilities, like this thing here . . . .”  


> In the first _X-Men_ movie, Magneto tries to improve Mutants’ lot in the world by converting world leaders to mutants using a special type of mutation-causing radiation. That has disastrous results, but it was part of the inspiration for the born / converted dichotomy seen here. 

“Sorry, but I do.” Her expression turned to a frown, before shooting back to a smile. “See, we know all you Markers do some pretty nifty stuff with your brains, but we heard you’re special—you’ve got higher levels of some _very_ useful neurotransmitters. We need to help people get around better without leaving the planet, if you know what I mean,” she was leaning so close her breath was falling hot and wet across Jensen’s nose. “So we devised a drug that should make your body make even _more_ , and then we’re going to harvest the chemicals from your brain and give it to our guys, how’s that sound?”  


> This is shamelessly inspired by Joss Whedon’s “Doll House,” specifically the plot of “The Hollow Men” (Season 2, episode 12). Jensen, like Caroline/Echo, has some really neat biochemical characteristics that the less savory megalomaniacal minds want to get their hands on to help people, but don’t care about getting Jensen’s consent or not screwing him over in the process. 

“I’m sedating it,” Doc said, turning around holding two needles. One was a syringe, which she immediately began pushing into Jensen’s arm. The other, was an overly large biopsy needle. “I need to stick this,” she held up the biopsy needle, “into its brain for a tissue sample, and I don’t want it screaming in pain, while I go exploring.”  


> This is inspired by Season 2 of “Farscape,” in which John Crichton has brain surgery to remove the chip Scorpius put in his head, with rather bad results. 

“—but only two led anywhere near a facility with the kind of security and concealment options likely to work for holding you, especially if they were planning to experiment on you, which we knew was a distinct possibility.  


> This is vaguely inspired by Vala Mal Doran’s (Claudia Black) kidnapping in “Memento Mori” (Season 10, episode 8), and the multiple raids the SGC staged in an attempt to retrieve her. Luckily Jensen’s rescue was a little less explosive! 

  


> The underground decommissioned bunker is also a nod to _X-2_ ’s secret underground compound underneath Alkali Lake. 

 

 **Chapter 9:**

“The thing that actually concerns me the most is that whoever drugged you definitely had access to your ORDA medical files, because the sedatives? That was the precise dose and combination I would have used. And as you probably figured out, Markers’ unique brain chemistry tends to screw with typical dosages of sedatives and hypnotics requiring a significantly larger than average dose compared to a nonMarker of the same body mass.”  


> This was heavily influenced by the vast library of “Sentinel” fusion fanfic I’ve read. “The Sentinel” was a mostly cheesy Sci Fi channel (yes, before it was Sy Fy) show involving an ex-Army Cop with enhanced senses that sometimes went haywire. The fanfic that comes out of that show, especially fused with Supernatural, SG-1, SGA, etc., is pretty freaking awesome despite the show’s relative mediocrity. Sentinels tend to have unexpected responses to medications, especially anything that reacts with their enhanced senses. 

Jensen could imagine. Plenty of science fiction writers before him had pondered those questions and reached conclusions, none of them encouraging.  


> This is a reference to a whole lot of sci-fi in general, not any one particular story, film, universe, or work. Although there are a few canonical AUs in Stargate that came to very unpleasant conclusions of their own (distrust, panic, martial law, etc.). Actually if a certain Stargate producer wasn’t such a sore loser we would actually get to find out what happened in the primary Stargate Universe when the masses found out about aliens and space travel, but I’m not bitter or anything, oh no.

 

And the connection bloomed between them, the nascent tingle that had been Jensen’s constant companion since he’d first picked up the WMD growing and unfurling into a spark, the spark flaring, flashing so bright, so big—  


> This might be influenced by one too many Sentinel-fusion bonding fics. Just maybe. Another major influence behind this and the coming scene is Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade’s relationship, or rather the point at which they finally stopped dancing around each other and wised-up that they were madly in love and in doing so connected in the Force. See Timothy Zahn’s Hand of Thrawn duology for more details. The scene I’m talking about is in _Vision of the Future_. Finally, there’s a bit of Vulcan pair bonding going on here just with a lot more emotional connection than any Vulcan would willingly admit to. See The Original Series episode “Amok Time” for more details. 

Only, he didn’t remember closing them in the first place, and when he looked at Misha, his lips were moving along with Jensen’s though the audible sounds were coming from Jensen’s lips.  


> This was influenced by every science fiction story or film ever that has incorporated some form of telepathy, but I was definitely thinking of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” in particular the telepathy Buffy, Xander, and Willow managed in “Primeval” (Season 4, episode 21) and later in various Season 7 episodes. 

The world was sparkling before his eyes, blue and green and bright, but not painful. And it was the sparkling of crystal’s refracting light, not some stupid teen vampire bullshit.  


> Yes, that’s a dig at Stephenie Meyer’s _Twilight_ saga and its sparkly vampires. 

_Rip Van Winkle._ The thought was definitely from Misha’s part of their brain, their shared… awareness.  


> A reference to Washington Irving’s short story about a lazy, hen-pecked husband who wanders into the mountains to avoid his wife, meets the ghosts of Henry Hudson’s crew, and sleeps for 20 years. 

_More like Sleeping Beauty_ Jensen’s mind answered back. Or at least he thought it did.  


> Briar Rose or Aurora, depending on the version of the story / fairy tale / movie you’re reading or watching was cursed by an evil fairy to die, but had the curse partially reversed so she would only sleep for 100 years. She did, the prince woke her with a kiss, and everyone lived happily ever after. If only it were so easy for Jensen and Misha. 

“You did not just think of ‘The Ordinary Princess!’” someone—Misha—said and thought, but Jensen was already answering—no they were both aware—that this was an echo of Jensen’s childhood jam-packed (or was it packed with jam?) with obscure sci fi, fantasy, and fairytales.  


>  _The Ordinary Princess_ , is a children’s fantasy novel, originally a short story, written and illustrated by M.M. Kaye. The tale, inspired by _Sleeping Beauty_ is about a princess with seven names cursed to be “ordinary” by one of her fairy godmothers. She eventually meets a very rebellious king and they live happily ever after. What can I say, Jensen’s an eclectic daydreamer and with diverse reading habits. The novel was republished in serialized form in _Cricket_ , a children’s literary magazine in the late 1980s or early 1990s over a period of about two to two-and-a-half years (it might have actually spanned both decades; I tried to confirm dates on the publisher’s website, but they don’t have back issues listed that far back, and my copies of the magazine are about 3000 miles away in my parents’ attic, so I couldn’t check). Jensen would have been a little on the older side to be reading the magazine then, but given his vivid imagination I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch, and that would be how he was exposed to the story. 

Sensation and data seemed to tumble in—air temperature coupled with the feel of the breeze against their skin, how it felt more like a gentle kiss to Misha, but was stirring up goosebumps on Jensen’s arms, individual hairs bending in the breeze.  


> The Markers’ acute awareness of ambient temperature and other environmental conditions as well as their growing understanding of their own internal condition and well-being was inspired by “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s” Julian Bashir, played by Alexander Siddig, an illegally genetically enhanced doctor capable of determining and controlling his temperature, blood pressure, respiration rate, etc. 

_It’s an expression… and if you make me quote Daniel Jackson in the middle of sex, I—_ Jensen wasn’t really sure which of the ten different reactions that flowed through his head would have completed the sentence, but Misha knew them all, so it didn’t matter.  


> This is a reference to an exchange between Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) and the Doci of the Ori (Julian Sands) in “Ark of Truth” (the first of two post-series SG-1 films) while Jackson is being tortured.  
>  **Daniel Jackson:** Oh, God.  
>  **Doci:** Your gods cannot save you now, Daniel Jackson.  
>  **Daniel Jackson:** No, it's just a term for general dissatisfaction. 

_I haven’t been that flexible since college, babe, and even then, I could never deep throat myself. This is new to both of us…_   


> Not sci fi, but a nod to Misha’s guest spot on “Nip/Tuck,” where he played Manny Skerritt, a yoga instructor obsessed with autofellatio. 

This wasn’t sex or fucking or lovemaking this was— _bonding_ —Jensen’s mind supplied pulling with it the wealth of sci fi concepts—everything from movies to TV to even _fanfic_ …  


> Jensen’s definitely thinking of Sentinel fanfic, Star Wars, and Star Trek. 

 

 **Chapter 10:**

It was as if the wall between their minds had been torn down. They didn’t have to exist as one big entity, but they could.  


> This scene was inspired by a battle sequence in Timothy Zahn’s aforementioned _Vision of the Future_.

They could test the going off planet stuff, they could test the distance of their separation, but Jensen had read and watched enough science fiction, and had a vivid enough imagination, to know all the ways that could be excruciatingly unpleasant.  


> Damnit! That would be more Sentinel-SGA fusion fic influencing Jensen’s conclusions. 

“You know, I could have really done okay without knowing just how much “Sentinel” fusion fan fiction porn you read, I mean seriously… you’re a lawyer,” Misha grumbled.  
Jensen twisted his neck and glared, “Fair use doctrine… you know that. And I know all the obsessive analogies to Vulcan and Betazoid telepathic bonds was coming from you, so don’t even start.”  


> Same reference again followed by a poke at the common misconception fanfiction is “illegal.” Well, some fanfiction may be illegal some of the time, but the vast majority of it is “transformative” and unique enough (and some of it is flat out satire) to qualify for the Fair Use Doctrine exception to the U.S. Copyright Act. Misha knows this because he’s talked to Jensen and Jensen’s a lawyer and lawyers will talk about law _ad nauseam_ if left to their own devices. Misha’s just bringing it up to tease. 

  


> Second, as I explained earlier Vulcans in Star Trek are typically bonded. Vulcans are touch-telepaths who engage in systematic emotional suppression and repression in favor of logic that has an unfortunate catastrophic and potentially fatal consequence for males of the species known as _pon farr_. The bonding is, _inter alia_ , supposed to provide a built in sex partner for this time of need. It comes every seven years and Vulcans really, really don’t like to talk about it, especially not with outsiders. (They’re almost as bad as Klingons and Trill in the deep cultural secrecy department, but I digress.) 

  


> Betazoids are an empathic, telepathic species that one could fairly term oversexed. Betazoid weddings are conducted with all participants in the nude, and Betazoids are often genetically bond children to their future spouses. The term for a Betazoid’s _first in everything_ is “imzadi” and it Read more about Betazoids [here](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Betazoid).

  


> On another note, there is actually some Sentinel-Star Trek fusion fic out there involving Vulcans. I haven’t found any involving Betazoids—yet—but knowing how fandom works, I’d be shocked if it doesn’t exist somewhere. Maybe this will prompt someone to write some? 

Jensen murmured, almost purring, because it felt so good. “Just—I don’t know how I’ll feel if you start calling me T’hy’la or something.”  


> T’hy’la is Gene Roddenberry’s gift to slash fans everywhere. The Vulcan term means “brother, lover, friend” and its definition first appeared in a footnote in the novelization of _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_. Yes, Spock thought of Jim (Kirk) as his T’hy’la. 

“No, whoever they were, and the rest of the PTBs at ORDA…”  


> Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) refers to the supernatural Powers That Be as the “PTBs” in “Angel: The Series.” 

“The result of the kidnappers’ ill-advised imitation of ‘Doll House’?” Jensen deadpanned.  


> Another reference to the “Doll House” episode “The Hollow Men.” 

That distinction may be a fallacy, but as long as people believe it and believe _in_ it, it’s the reality we have to deal with. We can scream about our humanity until we’re blue in the face, and it’s not going to make a damn bit of difference about how other people act towards us, or whether they see us as a threat.  


> This entire section is chock-full of references to the X-Men movie ‘verse. Mutants are humans in terms of speciation, but the humans don’t see Mutants as human and some Mutants begin to see themselves the same way. All the while _Mutation_ is used as an analogy for sexual orientation right down to the Mutant version of gaydar. 

“You—it just sounds like something out of every science fiction movie and comic book ever made—what are we? Mutants? X-Men?”  
“In a manner of speaking,” Jensen admitted. “The analogy isn’t inapt, except we’re different because of alien genetic engineering, not just ordinary evolution. But yeah.”  


> More of the same. Another X-Men reference pointing more towards the themes of the movie ‘verse than the comic books (although the same themes can certainly be seen there). Also, just a word of caution, if you haven’t seen the _X-Men_ movies and you decide to go out and see them, I strongly suggest sticking to the first two (X-Men and X-2). X-3 has some story decisions that never would have made it into the film if it had had a gay director (as the first two did) and the most recent prequel _First Class_ , suffers from some seriously squicky racist and sexist issues that extend beyond excuses for the time period in which it’s set. _Wolverine_ isn’t bad (although it does totally turn even more of comic book canon on its head), but it’s definitely an action flick (which is awesome) and light on the allegory and social commentary. It does get into experimentation on Mutants a lot though. 

Jensen smiled, “I could quote Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov, but that would just piss you off.”  


> Arthur C. Clarke, was the author of _2001: A Space Odyssey_ among other works and the creator of “Clark’s Laws.” Isaac Asimov was one of the most prolific authors of all time and published books in nine out of ten major divisions of the Dewey decimal system. His famous series of sci-fi books include _I, Robot_ and its sequels and the _Foundation_ series. The quotes Jensen was referring to include the following: 

  


> “One of the biggest roles of science fiction is to prepare people to accept the future without pain and to encourage a flexibility of mind. Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.” ~ Arthur C. Clarke

  


> “Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction—its essence—has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.” ~ Isaac Asimov

  


> The Asimov quote was actually used onscreen in a mockumentary of the fictional television program “Wormhole Xtreme” (an in-universe television program secretly based on the Stargate program and allowed to proceed to help bolster plausible deniability) in the “Stargate: SG-1” episode “200” (Season 10, episode 6, which was also the program’s 200th episode). 

“You—you just told me you can make like Professor X!” Misha giggled.

Jensen’s smile spread into a grin—okay, this, right now? Was not so bad; it was a pretty cool ability even with all the downsides. “And I don’t even need a big, round, room, to do it,” he quipped  


> Professor X, otherwise known as Charles Xavier, is a character in the X-Men comics and movies (portrayed by Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy in the feature films). He is an incredibly talented telepath who uses a big, round room known as Cerebro that lets him extend his telepathic range much further. He can find all kinds of things and people that way—including singling out Mutants whose brainwaves are different from regular humans’. 

 

 **Chapter 11:**

Before being in the same room with other Markers or an alien artifact, proximity produced a sensation like _The Highlander_ ’s immortal “buzz,” to the power of -1.  


> In the cult classic _The Highlander_ and it’s many sequels of varying quality and the much cooler (just ignore the special effects and title sequences in the early seasons… they look like the early ‘90s PowerPoint presentations they are) television series “Highlander: the Series,” Immortals get a sensation called “the buzz” (which is supposed to feel like a mental buzzing and buzzing noise sensation) when they come into proximity to each other. It serves to alert them to one another’s presence, lest they need to reach into their interdimensional pockets and grab their swords to prepare for an attempted beheading. The buzz is cool and helpful at all for keeping the playing field somewhat level (so you can’t sneak up on someone and cut off their head), in practice it seems to be incredibly distracting and more of a hindrance than a help. It also causes problems when Immortals are trying to keep their cover interacting with mortals who aren’t in the know, because the immortals will just break off midsentence and start staring around, searching, looking almost like a dog sniffing the air. It’s certainly not subtle. 

_Not my smoothest landing ever_ , Jensen thought as a twinge of nausea flooded through his system. He was nervous. Very, very nervous.  


> This is an oblique reference to the rather awkward landings frequently experienced by sliders in the eponymous show “Sliders”, a 1990s sci-fi romp starring Jerry O’Connell (among others) that seriously does not stand up to repeat viewings (it aged very poorly). In “Sliders” a group of travelers slide through wormholes to parallel worlds—same time, same place, different Earth—via a timer over which they have more or less no control (that aspect of it is a bit like Quantum Leap). For some reason the wormholes sometimes open up in the air or spit them out several feet above ground leading to some very painful and unpleasant (and humorous) landings. 

  


> This is also a vague reference to “Stargate: Atlantis” where all the Ancient technology controlled by the ATA gene has a “mental component” to it—which means people’s deep-seated fears or distractions can cause problems with how technology runs (or doesn’t). 

Katie just stared at him blankly for a moment before her eyes widened and her face broke into a huge grin. “That’s lawyer humor, isn’t it? The knowing and intelligent thing.” She laughed.

Jensen blushed and hung his head, embarrassed at his own geekiness. “Um, yeah, I guess it is—but I still meant it. I’m not going to order you not to touch the wall—or to touch it…  


> Katie’s right, that _is_ lawyer humor, or at least legal humor. The American legal system frequently requires people to make “knowing and intelligent” waivers of their rights, especially those involved in the criminal justice system. While that sounds like an awfully robust standard, there’s a lot of wiggle room in what “knowing” and “intelligent” mean, so it isn’t as strong as it sounds. 

“Title 9A OCRCMJ Section 37.100…”  


> A little more legal humor. OCRCMJ stands for “ORDA Comprehensive Revised Code of Military Justice,” which is a play off the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Title 9A of the Revised Code of Washington (Wash. Rev. Code If you’re _Bluebook_ and RCW if you’re Washington State government or attorneys) is Washington State’s criminal code. I could have just called it the Penal Code (like California which has several separate and distinct codes rather than one unified code) or Title 18 after the number for the federal criminal code in the United States, but since ORDA’s global headquarters is in Seattle, I decided to use the applicable state law as a model. That’s probably more than you wanted to know, and it has nothing to do with sci-fi, but it’s still a hidden joke that is now explained. 

_Use the Force, Jensen_ , a voice reminiscent of Alec Guinness urged at the back of his mind. He could _feel_ the nanolumes, the rock—there was something about the patterned section itself and something _deeper_ , reaching far beneath the surface that answered his mind and felt alien to him, like him.  


> Sir Alec Guinness was of course the original Obi-Wan Kenobi in _Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope_. After his death, his Force ghost spoke in Luke Skywalker’s mind telling him to use the Force, and helping him to destroy the Death Star, winning the battle, and saving the Rebellion in the process. 

  


> The alien mind-sensing thing is slightly inspired by Ender’s feeling of touching the Hive Queen’s mind for the first time in _Ender’s Game_ , although I am really frakking embarrassed to admit to inspiration from Orson Scott Card on principle. The man may be a raving homophobe, but he does write pretty good science fiction (at least when he doesn’t get bogged down in thinly veiled religious dogma). 

One degree off with the wormhole and he’d—pop out of the wormhole into solid rock, like TNG’s _Pegasus_ and its faulty cloaking device.  


> In “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, the _U.S.S. Pegasus_ was an experimental starship on which William T. Riker (later first officer of the _U.S.S. Enterprise-D_ served. The ship was involved in a highly illegal and dangerous experiment testing an interphase cloaking device. After an accident and mutiny the ill-fated ship cloaked and phaseshifted again, only to rematerialize partially inside an asteroid killing the remaining crew. You can find more information here [here](http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/USS_Pegasus).

“Sure, they’re already filtering out other species, but this way, it pulls you in, makes you _want_ to go inside—like the Sirens… it’s calling out hoping to crush us into the rocks, but if we know the route inside, the correct destination, then the song won’t matter—it’s like wax in our ears!”  


> A reference to Homer’s _The Odyssey_. The Sirens lure men to crash their ships upon the rocks by drawing them in with their enchanting tunes. Odysseus (or Ulysses, depending on if you’re reading a translation with his Greek or Roman name) solves the problem of sailing by the Sirens’ rocks by putting wax in his crew’s ears. But he wants to hear their song, so he has himself tied to the mast with his ears left open. Of course he begs and screams to be let loose so he can go to them, but his men can’t hear _him_ either, so it’s all okay. 

Reports of mysterious crime sprees, “ _invisible_ ” attackers, and rumors of paranormal events kept rolling in, gaining traction on major news networks.  


> And that’s a nod to “Supernatural” itself and how approaching the apocalypse even the masses started to notice something was up. 

 

 **Chapter 12:**

He knew the “wind” was displacement currents caused by matter exiting the wormhole, but he couldn’t stop his mind from comparing it to the visual and sound effects from a dozen or so of his favorite sci-fi movies.  


> And this is also totally the angel wings effect from “Supernatural,” by the way. Vampires in a variety of series and films including the all-too-short-lived “Moonlight” also have a bit of the breezy displacement thing going on. 

“How did you get in?” Alona asked, seeming to be over her initial shock. She turned towards the windows and peered around, craning her neck, probably looking for signs Jensen had climbed up from the street or repelled down from the roof.”  


> This is a little nod to Sam’s escape in “The Usual Suspects” (“Supernatural” Season 2, episode 7). 

“You know how lawyers all want candor with our clients, but given the RPCs there are some thing it’s just better if your client doesn’t tell you, because if they do, you’ll have an ethical conundrum on your hands?”  


> RPC = Rules of Professional Conduct. 

He thought of the warm _pull_ he’d always felt when he was around her, the flicker of power within her. He’d never known what it was before, but now it was clear.  


> Another nod to “Highlander: The Series” (and a few of the Highlander movies). An immortal can sense a “pre-immortal”—someone who has the capacity to become immortal if they die a violent death—but it’s a little bit harder to sense and recognize if you don’t know what you’re looking for. 

He took a long, shuddering breath to free his mind of pictures that flashed before his eyes—Nicki in a medical suite in restraints, tubes hooked up to her body for experimentation; Alona fighting for her life; Alona dead.  


> In _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phonix_ (the book, not the movie) Molly Weasley encounters a boggart while trying to clean out some of the dark artifacts left behind in the Black residence at Twelve Grimmauld Place. Boggarts appear to people as their deepest fear, and as Molly tries to banish the boggart again and again it keeps transforming to appear as one dead Weasley family member after another (including Harry given his surrogate status within the Weasley family). 

It brought to mind a line from his favorite sci-fi novel, and thought he finally understood what Paul Atreides had felt. _Terrible purpose._  


> Paul Atreides, protagonist of _Dune_ and other novels in Frank Herbert’s _Dune_ series struggles with destiny and expectations and prophecy and trying to write his own future all the while dealing with a growing sense of “terrible purpose.” 

 

 **Chapter 13:**

Ferris had even sent her assistant—whose name, get this, actually _was_ Walter, to Jensen’s never-ending amusement—away.  


> Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman (aka Norman Walter Davis Harriman) is the leading technician at Stargate Operations in the Stargate series and also assistant / right-hand man to the various Generals who have commanded the SGC. He is also seemingly psychic always able to anticipate the needs of the general or other staff members well in advance of their even asking questions. 

“Was that what Jensen was? A threat? Is that why you helped kidnap him?” Jared demanded.

“Yes. He was insurance too, if we’d managed to get more of that neurotransmitter, we might have been able to help humans escape, force an interface with a WMD and get them off planet,” Kane retorted. “That’s why I framed you too.”  


> I might have watched the season (one) finale of “Hawaii Five-0 (2010)” one too many times before rewriting this scene so if you notice any similarities, that’s why. There were several events towards the end of this story that got switched around a lot between the first draft turned in on May 1 and the final posted version. Originally Kane hadn’t confessed to General Lehne’s involvement and the mystery of which General was involved lingered on. Only it made the climax of the story incredibly drawn out and a little awkward. I realized I felt like I was trying to write something along the lines of _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ in that just where it felt like you were getting to the end it was really the beginning because the story just kept going and going and going after that. While JK Rowling has the skill to pull off that kind of ending, I don’t, so I simplified, and this was the result. 

They’d followed Kane’s wormholes for hours. They’d been through dozens of jumps on Alcynon and three additional worlds by the time their readings—both mechanical and telepathic—got too garbled to follow.  


> This idea was influenced by the movie _Jumper_ with them following Kane’s wormholes much like someone can follow a jumper through his or her jump scar. The longer you wait, the farther behind you are, the more difficult it is to follow. 

**Chapter 14:**

“Look,” Misha said in his LTC-giving-orders voice. “We’re a little exposed here, and I don’t want anyone brought up on charges for breach of protocol.” They were standing in the lobby of the main UW Health Sciences building not far from where it connected to the hospital proper.  


> The University of Washington’s Health Sciences complex is an ever-expanding, sprawling maze of buildings and parking lots located across the street from ( _inter alia_ ) the Applied Physics Lab. The area totally feels like it could be hiding a secret underground complex or two. 

“Broad spectrum antibiotic targeted at pathogens found on Alcynon, and the three other rocks you dragged yourselves across.”  


> In case it’s not obvious, here “rock” means planet, not rock, and the planets may or may not have been rocky. Just a bit of common sci-fi synecdoche. 

“SOP is to tell a service member’s family they’ve been injured and to try to come up with a plausible story that accounts for the severity of the injuries while conforming to the service member’s cover identity,” Misha said, his voice quiet and solemn.  


> While this isn’t a direct quote, the idea and question of what ORDA tells family members of injured or killed ORDA personnel was heavily influenced by Stargate, especially the SG-1 episodes “Heroes, Part II” and “Ethon.” In “Heroes,” a young scientist with a pregnant wife is injured, perhaps fatally while his team is ambushed at an archeological site offworld. When he thinks he’s dying he becomes distraught over how his wife will never know what happened to him or why he was killed. He’s lucky and survives, but of course many times that isn’t the case, and Stargate personnel—military and civilian alike—perish saving the planet, liberating other peoples, etc., and you just have to wonder what lies and bullshit their family members are sold because they don’t have clearance to hear the truth. In “Ethon,” an Air Force colonel dies saving the lives of nearly 100 people from his ship. Although one of the main characters goes and personally delivers condolences to the officer’s family explaining the officer died a hero saving his crew, you’ve just got to wonder if the officer’s family even began to comprehend the magnitude of what he did, especially given that Air Force officers don’t usually captain giant starships with 100+ person crews. 

“If they didn’t know where the key was before, chances are, our jammer will lead them to it, so we’ve been ordered to stop them and hold the key by any means necessary,” Harris reported.”  


> I imagine for a Marker or a Licinian, the inability to open a wormhole to a particular destination and the feeling of not being able to establish the desired connection is a bit like how a Jedi or Force sensitive feels reaching out in the Force and feeling the _absence_ of force created by ysalimiri, the strange force-repelling / negating sessile lizards that live on trees found in the jungle-covered planet Myrkr. I may just be a wee bit obsessed by these nifty fictional lizards, which first appeared in Timothy Zahn’s _Heir to the Empire_ trilogy. 

 

 **Chapter 15:**

Jensen kept thinking of the set of Star Wars novels where there was a interdiction field around Corellia, and everyone got _trapped_ unable to get reinforcements or move or travel the way they were accustomed. Only this time, he didn’t think there was a chance they could get through by _skipping_ like a stone on a pond. Maybe that worked for fictional ships in hyperspace, but not for wormholes in a jamming field.  


> The jamming field and its effects of slamming everyone into normal space outside it’s boundary was inspired by the massive interdictor (i.e., hyperspace jamming / gravitational field constructed around the Corellian system in the Star Wars expanded universe Corellian trilogy. I don’t particularly _like_ the Corellian trilogy. The trilogy has problems with pacing, uneven characterizations, and a lot of other issues, but that interdictor field and how it brought everything and everyone to a screeching, grinding halt has stuck with me since I read it, and its influence is apparent here. The interdictor field forced all ships out of hyperspace just outside the system turning the trip from the system’s outer reaches to its core worlds from a few minute journey into one that took six months or more. Meanwhile everyone inside was cut off from help and everyone trying to get in—no matter who they supported—was equally affected. Some characters eventually partially circumvented the field by forcing the ship into hyperspace over and over again despite the apparent presence of a gravity well (which in the Star Wars universe overrides the ability to stay in hyperspace). The resulting effect was skipping like a stone on the surface of a pond. The ships forced numerous micro jumps moving closer and closer until they reached the system’s planets. 

Trying to make him go the wrong way, but then, inside it, he could see it, a clear path, shining bright in his mind’s eye.  


> Not a direct _Star Wars_ reference (although every time I type “mind’s eye” I immediately think of the first Star Wars novel, Alan Dean Foster’s 1978 novel _Splinter of the Mind’s Eye_ , but I digress), but the process of navigating these subterranean wormholes was largely inspired by the Jedi ability to _feel out_ and navigate treacherous realspace and hyperspace paths using the Force as demonstrated by Kyp Durron and Luke Skywalker in Kevin J Anderson’s Jedi Academy Trilogy to find the path between the black holes that make up the Maw to reach the secret imperial installation at its center. The feeling Jensen gets when connecting with the key and Licinian architecture is actually modeled after Luke Skywalker et al.’s interactions with The Will, the artificial intelligence running the Imperial Dreadnaught _Eye of Palpatine_ in Barbara Hambly’s _Children of the Jedi_.

Katie’s voice trailed off at the same moment Jensen sensed danger and movement behind them.  


> Call it spidey-sense after Spiderman/Peter Parker’s precognition or call it danger sense after how most Force users refer to _their_ precognitive abilities, the Markers’ telepathic itching is definitely inspired by both of those. 

Jensen pressed his hands to them, flinching as his palms seared in the heat, and began trying to undo what the Licinians had done. The device, the room—deep inside, the roiling magma even deeper down—it was amazing what the Licinians had done, structurally ingenious and visually stimulating, but right now, Jensen couldn’t spare a thought.  


> The Snake River Plane–Yellowstone hotspot is a real volcanic hotspot that currently underlies Yellowstone National Park. Although its last major eruption was approximately 640,000 years ago, it’s not dormant and experiences hundreds to thousands of small-scale earthquakes annually. 

  


> Although not directly inspired by it, a good example of the result the Licinians were trying to achieve can be seen in the Stargate: Atlantis episode “Inferno” (season 2, episode 19). Rodney also blabs quite a bit about the Yellowstone caldera and compares it to the Tyranan’s not-so-little supervolcano problem. 

  


> The heat and destructive power of the interior chamber is somewhat inspired by / reminiscent of Mustafar from _Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith_ (only darker and with less actual immolation, just some singing of main characters). 

“Getting you out of here!” She replied, gripping his shoulder harder. “Timer’s set. We’ve got five, four, three, two…” The aperture opened in front of them.  


> This scene was inspired by events in _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_ involving Harry Potter and Dumbledore and aparating. Like Harry, the student, Katie, is rescuing her teacher, Jensen. 

  


> Like Stargate teams ORDA personnel carry C4 like it grows on trees. 

**Epilogue:**

Awareness returned to Jensen slowly. He realized he could still feel. He could even wiggle his toes, and the air didn’t burn as it left his lungs.  


> This description was partially inspired by a certain scene with Harry Potter in King’s Cross Station (sort of) in _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_. Like the aparition inspiration in the last chapter, I am reluctant to say more than that lest I spoil people—in my experience readers are particularly touchy about spoilers in the Harry Potter ‘verse. So, just read the books (not the movies, the books), if you’re not already sure what I’m talking about. The scene I mean should be pretty obvious. 

Jensen thought of himself standing at a viewport on a space ship. That could be him. He knew that now, and maybe it would be.  


> And this brings us back to the opening scene. Its inspirations are the same with the added inspiration of the final scene of “What You Leave Behind,” the series finale of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” which has Jake Sisko and Kira Nerys looking out of a viewport on the promenade watching the wormhole open and close. The wormhole, of course bears special significance to both of them. Skiso’s father, Captain Benjamin Sisko, has ~~ascended~~ joined the Profits, the nonlinear, noncorporeal sentient race from which he is descended on his mother’s side. The Prophets “reside” within the wormhole itself, which is stable by their creation. On the other end of the wormhole lies the Gamma Quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy, in which Kira’s lover, Odo, has rejoined his people, the shape-shifting Changelings, in the Great Link, helping these xenophobic, genetic engineering, oppressive war mongers who forced people to worship them as gods learn to trust those unlike them and stop being such giant assholes. The wormhole and space represents their pasts and futures; here Jensen too has come full circle. He recalls his past, slipping into daydreams of science fiction to escape the reality of daily life, and looks forward to his future in which his daydream is a reality. In doing so, he finally makes peace with who he is and what his life has become. 
>
>> On one final note, the final shot of “What You Leave Behind,” which pulls back from the station with the camera moving farther and farther away, is itself strongly reminiscent of the final scene in _The Empire Strikes Back_. 

  


The end!

 _P.S. There are two more books and several timestamp fics planned in this ‘verse. If there’s a particular time stamp or scene you’d like to see, let me know!_


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